directory

Containing directions; instructing; directorial.

Adjective

  1. Containing directions; instructing; directorial.

Origin

From Middle English directorye, from Latin dīrēctōrius. By surface analysis, direct + -ory.

Forms

more directory most directory

Noun

  1. A list of names, addresses etc, of specific classes of people or organizations, often in alphabetical order or in some classification.
    • look up an address in the directory

    Hypernyms: list reference work

  2. A structured listing of the names and characteristics of the files on a storage device.
  3. A virtual container in a computer's file system, in which files and other directories may be stored. The files and subdirectories in a directory are usually related.

    Synonyms: folder

    Coordinate Terms: label pseudodirectory tag

  4. A form of government with a collegial executive whose members jointly exercise power; the executive of such a government.
    • […] at the Ufa State Conference it was it was the union's conception of a directory (rather than a dictatorship) to rule anti-Bolshevik Russia that won the day. - 2015, Jonathan D. Smele, Historical Dictionary of the...

    Synonyms: directorate

Origin

From Middle English directorie, dyrectorye, from Medieval Latin dīrēctōrium. By surface analysis, direct + -ory. Doublet of directorium. The political sense is a semantic loan from French directoire.

Forms

directories

Hyponyms

active directory multidirectory nondirectory subdirectory working directory

Related

atlas gazetteer index rolodex

Derived

directory assistance directory climbing directory enquiries directoryless directory service directory traversal ex-directory metadirectory non-directory superdirectory